This invention relates to feed regulating conveyor bins for loose, fibrous material, such as fibrous material for the production of hard fiber-board, chip board or the like.
Feed regulating conveyor bins of the type with which the invention is concerned are provided, for example, in order to regulate the feed of a fibrous material to a processing system employing the fibers. In a conveyor bin of this type employed in the past, as disclosed in German Patent No. 1,084,199 a bin is provided comprised of a housing having a stud link chain conveyor arranged in the upper portion thereof. A platform is arranged under the upper course of the stud link chain conveyor in the region of an inlet opening in the upper portion of the housing, so that material fed into the opening is pulled along the platform by means of stud links on the conveyor. At the end of the platform, the material falls downwardly to a second lower platform, and the stud links of the lower run of the conveyor move the fibrous material over the lower platform which has openings therein through which the material falls. In this arrangement, the material is discharged from the bin by a discharge device in the form of a single row of spiked rollers arranged one above the other.
In the above described arrangement, the delicate fibrous material may be compressed in many places in the bin, so that local regions of undesirably increased density are produced. For example, the material in the above described arrangement may be compressed in front of and under the studs of the stud link chain conveyor, especially in the region where the stud link chain conveyor runs over the openings in the lower platform. In addition, since the material is drawn over the platforms by the stud links of the conveyor, friction between the material and the platforms may result in damage of a considerable portion of the material. Still further, when the fibrous material becomes stuck on the spikes of the rollers of the discharge device, it may be returned to the bin which results in the undesirable local compression of material in the bin.